Life goes on

First of all, we have purchased a couple of Jersey bull calves.  

Jethro on the left, Homer on the right.  We are going to let Homer remain a bull, with intentions of him breeding our herd next winter and spring.  Once he has accomplished that task, he'll be butchered.  Jersey bulls have a reputation for often being mean and dangerous, so we wouldn't want to keep him around long.  He is a tiny thing; I'm sure he weighs no more than 40 pounds.  Since I prefer small Jerseys, that's good.  Jethro will be castrated in a day or two, and they will both be de-horned.  We made the mistake of letting George keep his horns, and were reminded why that wasn't a good idea.  He used his horns to keep the others away from the feed so he could hog it all.    Notice that Jethro is much larger, and has an interesting black spot on his side.  It looks as though he was scorched a little before he came out of the oven.  The calves are named after Homer and Jethro, a couple of  corny old country-music comedians.     

The snow is melting.  Cliff and I went for a very sloppy walk a while ago.

 This is a path Cliff bladed when the snow was so deep.  It's nice to see grass showing up in so many spots now.  

Some areas were mostly slush, which is pretty much like walking through snot.  

The areas of the road that don't have vegetation on them were muddy, and eroding.  This is how huge ditches begin.  

Except for the mud and slush, though, it's a lovely day.  I turned the chickens out earlier than usual so they could enjoy themselves.